The “Evil” of Railway Gauge Breaks: A Study of Causes in Britain, India, Japan, and Manchuria

A railroad gauge is defined as the width between two rails on a track. In the earliest days of railroading, many companies adopted different gauges, often resulting in chaos where incompatible lines met up. By the 20thcentury, most countries selected a single national gauge, but the fallout from the ‘battle of the gauges’ can still be felt today, making the issue of gauge breaks more than an historical footnote. This thesis suggests that the study of track width can provide meaningful insight into why Britain and Japan differed so greatly in constructing their own railroad lines—differences that impacted their oversight of railway systems in India and Manchuria. After examining the causes of gauge breaks in these countries, the thesis concludes that whether a gauge break problem arose or was quickly resolved largely depended on the following factors: (1) Whether interested parties adopted a localist or nationalist approach to railroad construction (i.e., building a line instead of a network); (2) How the railroads were financed, and whether investors were impacted by economic losses and the unprofitability of lines; (3) Inconsistent railway policies that were often influenced by a revolving door of advisors and/or parties with conflicting interests (e.g., laissez-faire proponents versus advocates of strong regulatory oversight); and (4) The ability of those most impacted by gauge breaks to petition for redress

The Discipline of Film Scoring

This project explores the intricacies of the discipline of film scoring and how music is used when paired with a visual medium in order to enhance the emotional impact of the visuals within the audience. It delves into the development of theme and motif, how to organize proactively when beginning a film score, and how to structure form and pacing

Movement, Daoism, and Social Action

Movement, Daoism, and Social Action is an interdisciplinary senior self-determined Social Justice Studies project that resulted in a research paper and pilot movement workshop. Leventhal wishes to create a social action-oriented movement workshop. To do so, she wrote the research paper, \u27Stepping on Each Other\u27s Toes\u27: An Analysis of Cultural Appropriation Through Chinese Medicine and Internal Arts Practices & Possible Applications for Social Action . The paper reviews existing literature on cultural appropriation, applies key concepts to case studies of East Asian cultural appropriation, and analyzes them to construct new theory on how to share culture without reproducing harm. Leventhal then uses these new guidelines to design and facilitate her workshop, titled Movement, Daoism, and Social Action

Health Literacy in Older Adults: Determining Gaps in the Health Literacy Skills of Older Adults in Saratoga Springs, New York and Suggestions for Effective Interventions

This study aimed to understand the strengths and limitations of health literacy skills among older adults. The results informed a resource to improve any discovered gaps in health literacy. Participants (n=50) were selected through convenience sampling methods at the Saratoga Senior Center in Saratoga Springs, New York. The Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ) was distributed to evaluate health literacy skills among older adults. Measures of means and standard deviations were used to assess strengths and limitations in health literacy skills among nine domains of the HLQ. The results informed the implementation of a resource designed to increase health literacy specifically for members of the Saratoga Senior Center to access and effectively use health information The elements of health literacy that received the lowest scores among this sample were the scales correlated with finding and using health information. Participants scored the highest on feeling understood and supported by healthcare providers. Scales associated with finding information to manage one\u27s healthcare were found to be the most challenging for older adults in this study. The results reveal that older adults would benefit from additional instructional programs to enhance health literacy skills. The implementation of the resource created in response to the findings of this study has the potential to improve health literacy. Future research should replicate this study with a larger sample size and collect more varied demographic information. Follow-up studies should measure the effectiveness of interventions on health literacy levels among older adults

Bridging the Gap Between Skidmore Students and Local Businesses

Skidmore students are an underutilized customer base for small businesses in Saratoga Springs. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the purchasing behaviors of Skidmore students in order to determine how local small businesses can better attract them as customers. Current Skidmore students were surveyed and interviewed to ascertain overarching patterns in their purchasing habits. Results show that word of mouth and social media are influential at Skidmore, but are underutilized by local businesses. Findings also suggest that purchasing habits are largely formed during students’ first year at Skidmore. Finally, interview and survey results indicate that Skidmore students most value convenience when making purchasing decisions, and that local businesses must be made more accessible to students on campus in order for them to compete with online commerce sites and on campus options, which students find more convenient. Results were analyzed in order to generate communications, marketing, and business strategies that small businesses can adapt in order to effectively leverage survey and interview insights

Examining the Relationship Between Cigarette Smoking and Depression Among Asian American Adults

Does having smoked cigarettes have any relationship to depression? This study explores the relationship between cigarette smoking and depressive frequency within the Asian American adult population. I hypothesized that Asian American adults who have ever smoked a cigarette would report more depression compared to Asian American adults who have never smoked cigarettes. To test this hypothesis, I analyzed data from the 2021 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) using a subset of 1704 Asian American adults aged 18 to 85+. I controlled for native-born status, social/emotional support, relationship status, education, age, and gender. Controlling for the other variables, Asian American adults who have ever smoked a cigarette reported greater depressive frequency than those who have never smoked a cigarette. Additionally, multiple regression results showed that being in a relationship (married or living with a partner together as an unmarried couple) along with one’s level of social/emotional support had the largest effects on depressive frequency in the Asian American adult population followed by smoking status, gender, and native-born status

Gendered Submission and the Poetics of Privacy: Devotional and Domestic Poetry of the 17th and 20th Centuries

The poetry born from the confessional and metaphysical genres together act as a poetic anthology of privacy and submission. This anthology holds poems that powerfully engage with the various gendered experiences of submission and the forfeiture of privacy and agency; while these acts are exalted in their masculine contexts, framed as willful abandons of control that empower the poet spiritually and sexually, in feminine contexts, surrender was never a choice, rather an involuntary and penetrative violation of privacy and bodily autonomy

Playing Through Life, Death, and Grief in Fortnite and Elden Ring

This paper analyzes the cultural processes of grief and death practiced in Fortnite and Elden Ring in relation to the military history of the countries in which these games were produced. This close reading utilizes a methodology of media archaeology, visual studies, and liveness theory to analyze the affordances and regional practices present in these games and argue their design and consumption is haunted by the military histories of the United States and Japan respectively. As a result, Fortnite and Elden Ring are demonstrated to function as local sites of grief and mourning in relation to the opposing relationships with the military present in each game\u27s country of origin